Packer's last words to his son

Nicky Phillips

Death gives most people perspective. When facing his end, the tough and, at times, ‘‘terrifying’’ Kerry Packer took the opportunity to tell his son, James, something every parent should say to their child.

While Mr Packer admitted the pair did not have a perfect relationship, it was a ‘‘huge privilege to be his son’’, he said.

‘‘One of the true joys of my life is that my father and I ended in a perfect spot.’’

Kerry Packer died of kidney failure on Boxing Day, 2005, aged 68.

Mr Packer also got emotional when he spoke of his friendship with actor Tom Cruise, which established itself after the breakdown of his first marriage to designer Jodhi Meares in 2002 and the collapse of telecommunications company One.Tel a year earlier.

‘‘There is no doubt that One.Tel was a terrible investment and something that I regret greatly,’’ he said.

Mr Packer said Fairfax Media, publisher of the The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age, had been ‘‘very hard’’ on him when One.Tel went bankrupt.

‘‘You can understand that, it was a lot of money and I was leading it,’’ he said.

At the time, Mr Packer said he was ‘‘depressed and emotionally exhausted’’.

‘‘My marriage had broken up. I felt like a failure.

‘‘When I was at my lowest, Tom Cruise reached out to me. He believed in me when other people didn’t.